Ohio treasurer: Candidates touch on key points of campaign

Connie Pillich (D) is running against incumbent Josh Mandel (R)

The race for the Ohio Treasurer is a highly contested battle between Republican incumbent Josh Mandel and Democrat Connie Pillich. The candidates sat down with WLWT News 5's Andrew Setters to talk about the key points of their campaigns

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"I'm running for treasurer. It's the most important statewide office that pretty much nobody talks about. This is where all the money comes in, and all the money goes out. So the No. 1 duty of the treasurer is to safeguard your tax dollars, and to protect our pension program and do everything she can to grow the economy,” Pillich said.

One of the things that Pillich and Mandel agree on is that the treasurer’s office does not get the attention it deserves, for the important function it serves.

Mandel has put state salaries online and he said he has other transparency project in the works as well.

"It's going to have every single state expenditure on the Internet - everything from $2 for a pack of pencils to $2 million for an expensive road contract and everything in between. And the basic premise behind this project is that the taxpayers have a right to know how their money is being spent. I believe in the concept that sunlight is the greatest disinfectant to government waste," Mandel said.

Challenger Pillich said she wants more oversight of the treasurer’s office.

"One of the reason's I'm running is that for too long politics have had an overbearing effect on the decisions that are made in that office, and it's time we cleaned that up," Pillich said. "I have an idea to clean up the office -- I'm going to install an inspector general of the treasury, someone whose job it is to root out fraud, waste and abuse, corruption and mismanagement."

Mandel said he has already done a lot of the cleaning up.

"Four years ago, my predecessor, under his administration, unfortunately there was the largest bribery and kickback scheme in the history of the treasurer's office under my predecessor. My current opponent was completely silent then -- didn't say a thing about it, didn't make this proposal then, but now during this election year, she's trying to play politics with the voters," Mandel said.

Both candidates also point to their military experience in preparing them for a leadership role.